Wednesday, June 27, 2012

With Silver Bells

Bring on the summertime. We had a great play and picnic in the park today with friends.

I took some pics tonight at the garden. Definitely things are growing. Not everything mind you. I put in some pepper plants that really haven't gotten any bigger since they were planted.

I absolutely can't wait to eat from our garden!! Look....our first tomato!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Eat That Rainbow

Well birthday season is over here. There was no party this year but did we had an evening of cake!
See that cake to the bottom of the cute neighbour? Pretty impressive, eh? It's a rainbow cake.

Kudos to Granny for baking 6 coloured cakes on what was one of the hottest days of the year.

This is what it looked like upon arrival. Oh ya! That's a rainbow cake.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Glug

The fun part of having birthdays close together is that birthday $$ can be spent together. We took a trip to our fave place to buy LEGO in town.

After many long minutes of deciding they were ready for the check-out. Though A changed his mind and only purchased two of the three you see there. He wanted to leave some $$ in his bank.

And then it was back to the house for assembly time. Many long minutes of assembly time.

We let A decide the evening activity on his birthday. Turns out eating meatpie while watching television with his dad on the couch is pretty much nirvana when you're a new 7 year old.

Speaking of nirvana M was there tonight, that is, at the LCBO at a scotch tasting event. We waited at the Strbucks across the street to drive him home and visited with some friends.
We decided they should have a funny face competition. Hysterical.

Looking at these pics reminded me of something M's Nan used to say. "The older they get the cuter they ain't." Just kidding E, you're cute. But I have to say in this competition the little girls have you beat!

And the best part?? While we were all drinking (Us Starbucks and M scotch), there were elves at our house. They mowed our lawns AND cleaned the back gutter I was having trouble getting to. Thank you Helper Elves.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

You Like it Like That

When the kids and I were brainstorming ideas for what to do on Father's Day they mentioned that M really like practical jokes. So, we've been planning a day of high jinks for the last couple of weeks.

First up, we covered the top of the toilet with saran wrap. When M went for his first thing in the a.m. bathroom break..... Sorry folks, no pictures of that gag.
Second, I put food colouring in his bowl underneath the cereal. When he added the milk-GREEN!

Our third trick went off without a hitch. Knowing that he would be working on laundry today we closed the door to the basement and covered the handle in vaseline. Hahahahaha.

We imagined him rushing to the sink to rinse off his hand and had taped the hand held sprayer nozzle so when he turned on the tap-BLAST-water all over. But he was wise to us by then and asked someone to turn it on seeing as how his hand was slippery. Our two knew the nozzle was rigged and said no but our poor neighbour got an armpit of water. Sorry about that H. You were an innocent victim.
And that was how we feted Father's Day. You rock M.

We did take a bit of time to wash his car this afternoon. No car related jokes though....that would have been dangerous. You can see that some people worked harder than others.

I'm sure it's obvious from this pic that A got a haircut yesterday. What's harder to tell from this picture is that he has a double mohawk. Crazy. I'll try to get a better pic tomorrow.

I was out at the garden one evening at bedtime last week and E brought this to M.
He said, "Mom left this book and note for you. I guess she wants you to read some of our book this evening."
Hmmm. It seems M saw right through this first attempt at a fake note.
Can you see why? (Other than the printing of course.)

Saturday, June 16, 2012

108

Wow. One hundred and eight months old.  Seems like just yesterday he was one hundred and seven months old and twenty-nine days. Haha. Just kidding!!

He's so loveable. And intelligent. And kind. And polite.
Feel free to add any others you can think of in the comment section.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Creatures

One never knows where you might find a furry creature in this house.
This time they were involved in an attack on a LEGO command base.

Lucky us had the Nlson boys after school and for dinner. The 2As put on a puppet show.

Great job boys! Dinner and a show. We're living the dream.

One of the boys snapped this picture of me before they went to bed the other day.
I'm a big fan of bedtime. I tease that I'm like Cinderella. At 8:30p.m. I change from Mary Poppins to Mommy Dearest.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Oldies But Goodies

We are still working on some school stuff. We're not working hard mind you, but we're working.

We went by our food garden today to squish some bugs and water things. While there the boys got involved in discussion with a lady working a neighbouring plot. (She had enlisted their aid in spotting the little brown bugs).
She was telling them that because of the strange winter weather apples were going to be more expensive. That she had seen a farmer on the news saying that normally her apple trees would have 100 apples on them this time of year but now they had only 3 small apples.
Eric said, "Wow. That's like, 97% fewer apples."
The lady paused. And said, "Yes. You're right. Exactly 97% fewer apples."
Later as we were saying our goodbyes she told me that speaking with children made her realize how much she was looking forward to grandchildren. She said, that spending time with kids really increased her enjoyment of an activity.
Intergenerational Relationships are so important!!
Benefits of Intergenerational Relationships to Seniors:
• Give seniors a sense of purpose in life
• Invigorate and energize older adults
• Reduce the likelihood of depression
• Strengthen the immune system in general
• Fill a social need for older adults who do not have family or grandchildren around with them
Benefits of Intergenerational Relationships to Children and Youth:
• Help alleviate any fear that children or youth may have of older adults
• Help children to understand and later accept the process of aging
• Fill a void for children who do not have their own grandparents with them
• Learn new skills, knowledge, and wisdom.
• Strengthen emotional and social intelligence

(taken from http://voices.yahoo.com/the-benefits-ways-developing-intergenerational-6030562.html?cat=5)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Let It Grow

Big news here at the house on Friday. For the 1st time, A beat his dad at chess. Wow.
I thought our weekend might be on hold as E seems to be either coming down with a cold or having some allergy issues. Anybody watch BigBngTheory? You know how Sheldn reacts when he gets sick? The whining, the over sharing of symptoms, the noisy throat clearing. Ya. That's my boy Sheld....I mean E on the couch there with a cloth on his sinuses.

But he managed to keep a brave face as we went off to solve a mystery. We have a plant growing in our front garden-and our lawn-that is unfamiliar. So we took a sample to the local nursery for identification. We weren't able to find anything that matched but the lady who works there thought she knew what it was.

Polygonatum variegatum. Or, Solomon's Seal. The boys and I were pleased to hear that it is a great shade plant and while native to this area can be difficult to acquire. A unique plant, my thanks to whomever originally planted it.

We dug up the ones that had been inadvertently moved the the lawn during sod work and relocated them back to the garden area. Now to wait for the pretty white flowers.

Of course we couldn't go to a nursery without getting some flowers. So the boys also each planted the two kinds of flowers they had chosen for the front yard.

The hardest part of parenting for me is to just leave them alone. I always want to step in and help, or do, or instruct. But I did well today I think. They chose the flowers they wanted to put in, how the work was to be divided, and where they were to be planted. Voila! It's all theirs and they were quite tickled with how it looked. They each explained their reasoning for the plant placement and stayed interested throughout the activity.

Earlier, we stopped in at the food garden to accomplish a little weeding and bug destroying.

Every time we go the boys check the ant nest to make sure it's still there. E&A love watching the ants. As soon as they lift up the paper the ants start dragging all the eggs underground. Thrilling stuff!

Thursday, June 07, 2012

VanGogh

The kids, Granny and I went to the National Gallery today to see their show on Van Gogh.
There were over 40 pieces. So many more than when I saw Art in the Age of Van Gogh at the Winnipeg Gallery in 1999.
The boy's favourite part was the interactive room. They had a great ipod program where they could create.

This is what E made. I'm not sure that this is his medium.

I think that A's overuse of/love of electronics made him more comfortable with the process.

This is what he created. I can see the Van Gogh inspiration.

At Granny's tonight he was back to creating. I like it. A lot.

I definitely think A is experiencing a creative brain growth. I did a little online perusing and there seems to be support for that idea. Among others I found this quote,

Children's brains seem to develop in clear spurts, continuing until young adulthood. Optimal performance at particular skills occurs at ages 3 1/2 - 4 1/2, 6-7, 10-12, 14-16, 19-21 and 24 -26.

So then I wondered if there was anything I could do to support him during this time. The same website said,

The thing most likely to cause children to thrive is loving and responsive care and parental attention.

Done. Done. And Done.

Update Dec2020

My Guy A My Guy E School Rooms at Home Deck the Halls It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas